A California journalist describes how well-organized and well-financed “missionaries” have set up more than 3,500 groups in public schools across America to indoctrinate children as young as 4 years old in evangelical Christianity.

A quick check of Wikipedia reveals that rightwing religious fanatics believe speaking in tongues, called glossolalia, is “a miraculous charism or spiritual gift.” Mitt Romney, for example, speaks in tongues when he calls himself a “conservative” or calls President Obama a “socialist,” hoping this will miraculously save his candidacy by getting evangelicals to vote for a phony like him instead of the real evangelical, Ricky Sanitarium.

When linguists use scientific method to study glossolalia, their findings are fascinating. “Gloassolalists claim these tongues can be both real, unlearned languages as well as a ‘language of the spirit,’ a ‘heavenly language,’ or perhaps the language of angels.” But a leading study that included glossolalia samples gathered over a period of several years from the U.S., Canada, Italy, Holland, and Jamaica, found that “glossolalic speech does resemble human language” and consists of syllables “formed from consonants and vowels taken from a language known to the speaker.” Other researchers have confirmed that glossolalic sounds “reflected the patterns of speech of the speaker’s native language” — which, of course, strongly suggests human rather than divine origin for such speech.

I think singing in tongues and speaking in tongues is just people letting their subconcscience run amok. If one wants to talk in tongues to “prove” that talking in tongues exists, the his or her subconscious will happily play whatever “tongue” he or she chooses to speak. In other words, talking in tongues and singing in tongues is pure, bullshit: it only exists in the minds of the idiots who beleive in it.

So Phil Gramm’s leaving UBS, eh? If any of y’all have money tied up with them, I’d think you’d want to get it out of there quick. They’re probably stoking the shredders 24X7 and have someone watching the door for the Feds.

Mitt Romney, for example, speaks in tongues when he calls himself a “conservative” or calls President Obama a “socialist,” hoping this will miraculously save his candidacy by getting evangelicals to vote for a phony like him instead of the real evangelical, Ricky Sanitarium.

Some months later, after Track had enlisted in the army, Whitaker [mayor of Fairbanks] was with Sarah in the lobby of the Princess Hotel in Fairbanks. “There were about half a dozen of us, just having an informal chat about policy, when someone came in and told her that Track was outside. He’d just finished basic training and was on his way back to Fort Wainwright and she hadn’t seen him for several months. I said, ‘Well, I guess that’s our cue to wrap things up.’ But she said, ‘No, no, he can wait. Let’s keep going.’

“I said, ‘Governor, you need to go see your son.’ She wouldn’t do it. For at least another half hour we kept going, really just talking about silly stuff.”

The strongest and most disturbing recollection Whitaker has about Sarah comes from her appearance at the Fort Wainwright deployment ceremony on September 11, 2008, while she was campaigning for vice president. Track was among those being deployed.

“I said to her, ‘Look, I’ve spoken at these events and they’re very emotional, so know that it’s okay to show your feelings. You’re talking to 4,500 soldiers going off to war, and some of them will not be coming back. We know that and they do, too. And your son is one of them. So don’t be embarrassed if you cry.’ ”

He pauses, then resumes, speaking slowly and deliberately for emphasis. “I have never,” he says, “seen such a detached and self-absorbed speech to deploying soldiers. Her lack of emotional involvement was scary. Her speech was all about her. Then, at the end, it was suddenly, ‘Go! Fight! Win!’ That was the moment I lost the last of my faith in Sarah Palin.”

But she’s a Faux News millionaire has-been right? We won’t hear much again from mad Queen Sarah will we?

Most of those who speak in tongues are Pentacostals. This is a sub-set of Evangelicals, but I’ve known members of mainline religions (Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, etc.) who did so as well. It is believed to be one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which most receive only after prayer and fasting.

There is not one “tongue”, which is why the New Testament says that for each utterance there should be an interpreter available for the benefit of the rest of the congregation. Some times it’s a word of prophecy, of warning, mostly it’s a call for Christians to return to Him.

A lot of discussion has occured about the similarity of tongues to earthly languages. In Acts Chapter 3 it says each person heard according to their own language, which has at times been argued to mean that the disciples emerged from the upper room at Pentacost speaking in a variety of earthly languages. Others say that they were not earthly languages at all, but that each person hearing them was given the ability to understand them, as if they were the hearer’s native language.

For the most part, you see this in “praying in tongues”, whereby people pray in a language which might resemble some earthly languages, but is not one of them. In that instance, the person who is praying is said to have pushed beyond the limits of earthly language so that his/her heart is having a conversation directly with God, most often in a “worship” setting.

But I know of no teaching which says you can teach people to speak in tongues. I would be very wary of that, because we know that people can mimic the gift of speaking in tongues, and this would seem to encourage that.

Continuation of # 16: Yea, I know most people think Pentacostals are crazy. At the first Pentacostal experience described in Act. Ch. 3, people laughed it off, saying that those speaking in tounges were “drunk on new wine”. Heck, even the Baptists can’t decide if we are demon-possessed or merely led astray by false teaching.

Which brings me to one point, about religion and politics. Religion has no place in politics. Jesus expressly taught that the existing political order was not his concern: “render unto Ceaser what is Ceaser’s”, and entreating servants (slaves) to obey those who are put into positions of authority over them.

When politics and religion mix, both sides are trying to use the other. In the end, both sides end up smelling like the losers in a tug-of-war contest where the pig wallow is in the center.

Yay’s! If you’re thinking about supporting a few candidates around the country you might take a look at Chuck Hassebrook who’s just announced that he’ll be running for the Nebraska senate seat that Ben Nelson is retiring from.

LYONS, Neb. — Democrat Chuck Hassebrook fired a populist blast Tuesday, saying he would stand up against “rich and powerful interests” if elected to the U.S. Senate. Hassebrook argued that the middle-class Americans were being ignored by a Washington, D.C., that cares more about providing tax cuts to the rich, subsidizing rich farmers and protecting big banks. “I am running so I can fight, not for government that protects the tax cuts of the rich, but for government that protects the retirement security of hard working families,” said Hassebrook, 56. Hassebrook, of Lyons, is the first major Democrat into the race. He is expected to be the last.http://www.omaha.com/article/2...../702159997

“Subconscience” might be a more accurate term because I think the tongue talkers (and singers) really know what they’re doing is jive-ass. That is, they really know they’re being taken-in by this religious “phenomenon,” but they do it anyway to show how much better their evangelical world is compared to any one else.

I wasn’t an English or grammar major, so I may misuse the language at times, dork, but at least I’m not a fucking asshole like you. I get the point across, whereas the “point” in your case is the shape of your head.

I’ve always thought that “Father, Son and Holy Ghost” schtick was a way for the early Christians to convert the Pagan Europeans to Christianity. The Pagans believed in multiple gods, so the Christians came up with the Trinity to make conversion more appealing to the Pagsns. Of course, when given the choice of conversion to Christianity or a sword in the guts, a lot of Pagans opted to go the Catholic Chrisitan route.

Muthee’s claim to have recaptured Kiambu for Christ by breaking Mama Jane’s demonic hold on the city coincided with the 1989 publication of a book called Taking Our Cities for God, by a Pentecostal preacher from Los Angeles named John Dawson. The book resonated throughout the Pentecostal universe as a spiritual call to arms. Dawson believed that “satanic forces manifest themselves in the culture of the city,” and that only “strategic-level spiritual warfare” (SLSW) could defeat them.

The following year, George Otis, Jr., who later founded and became CEO and president of The Sentinel Group, a Seattle-based [it’s in Lynweird, actually] “Christian research and information agency,” coined the term spiritual mapping. He wrote that Satan had sent powerful demonic forces to particular countries, regions, and cities in order to thwart Christian teaching. These “territorial spirits” destroyed the moral fabric of the societies in which they operated. He wrote that “spiritual darkness is palpable and geographically concentrated.”

In his 1991 book, The Last of the Giants: Lifting the Veil on Islam and the End Time, he posited the notion that “territorial demonic strongholds” literally existed in various locations, and that SLSW, if concentrated in the proper areas, could free whole societies from demonic control.

This notion gained traction among Pentecostals throughout the 1990s, aided considerably by the 1997 publication of Breaking Strongholds in Your City: How to Use Spiritual Mapping to Make Your Prayers More Strategic, Effective, and Targeted by C. Peter Wagner, cofounder (with the later disgraced Ted Haggard) of the World Prayer Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Described in Charisma magazine as “a spiritual version of the Pentagon,” the World Prayer Center is the command post for Wagner’s worldwide campaign against demons.

Writing in The Plumbline, Orrel Steinkamp describes the role of spiritual mapping in strategic-level spiritual warfare: “Spiritual mapping is the process of gathering information regarding a region or a people in order to determine the identity and function of the territorial ruler … ‘Team Orange’ are a specially trained cadre of spiritual mappers. They gather information regarding any area to which they are sent … They call spiritual mapping ‘Night Vision Goggles’ which enable them to see, purportedly, into the darkness of a city.”

Wagner believed that the “Third Wave of the Holy Spirit” broke upon the beaches of America in the 1980s and that it represented the last chance for Christians to position themselves before the end-times, which would lead to the Rapture, but only for those who’d earlier dedicated their lives to fulfilling the wishes of Jesus Christ. He literally believed that Satan sent “senior demons from the hierarchy of evil spirits” to control everything from individual neighborhoods to whole countries. But all was not lost. Spiritual mapping, a sort of divine GPS, could identify their whereabouts, and strategic-level spiritual warfare could destroy them. In 1998 the World Prayer Center created a “spiritual mapping repository.” Otis said, “Spiritual mapping is especially needed now because Satan will increase his resistance to the church as it moves toward fulfillment of the Great Commission.”

In 1999, Otis not only published a book called Informed Intercession, a guide to how to “transform” a city or region, but also produced a video called Transformations, which purported to show how spiritual mapping and spiritual warfare had improved the quality of life in four different cities, including Hemet, California, and Kiambu, Kenya.

In Hemet, Otis said, “The Transcendental Meditation center was literally burned out. Shortly after the intercessors prayed for its removal, a brush fire started on the mountain on the west side of the valley. It burned only the Transcendental Meditation facility and didn’t touch any of the buildings on either side.”

In 2000, Wagner wrote a new book called Praying Through the 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window, the premise of which was that locations between ten and forty degrees north latitude (i.e., “the 10/40 window”) should be the primary targets of spiritual warfare.

At sixty-one degrees north, Wasilla was not in the danger zone. Nonetheless, as mayor, Sarah had taken the precaution of having it declared a City of Character, trusting that the designation would strengthen its defenses against demonic onslaught. Now she was concerned with Satanic control of a larger realm: the state of Alaska.

Uhhh.. Wow! C’mon folks. This hysteria, this fear-mongering is a BUSINESS.. It sells books, tapes, lucrative guest sermon tours, hooks the gullible and empties their pockets.

The mention of Hemet is interesting.. The Scientologists have a HUGE retreat near Hemet complete with a fancy golf course.. I’d like to see these “spiritual mapping” charlatans take on the Scientologists – that’s a pretty mean bunch.

I suppose the Brits are being prudent and sensible and all that, but geeze this sorta gives me the willies.

Evacuation plans for British expats stranded in Spain and Portugal if their banking systems collapse are being drawn up by the Foreign Office. The contingency plans are being put in place to help thousands of Britons if they were unable to get to their money in the event of a catastrophic banking collapse in two of the most vulnerable eurozone economies. Around one million British expats live in Spain, particularly around Marbella and Malaga, and some 50,000 in Portugal.

‘We are looking at how we can help evacuate them if the banks in Spain and Portugal collapse, getting people cash, things like that, sending planes.

It seems like prudent planning to me. When the s**t* hits the fan, you are already too late in making plans. Can you imagine tens of thousands of tourists, diplomats, merchants, staff, and ex-pats all finding that their credit cards won’t be honored and the cash in their pocket either won’t be accepted or will be seized at the airport, train station, or border by customs agents?

I once worked for an oil company’s environmental remediation group, and an old grizzled hand would tell stories of working in countries where the first thing that happened every morning was a company messenger would hand-deliver the day’s evacuation instructions, including full-fare airline tickets, assembly points, code words, and contact numbers. This applied to the workers and their families as well.

re 21: “Schtick”???? You are right that I’m an asshole — but I’m an asshole with a sense of humor.

Your use of the word ‘schtick’ makes me think that an ancient doppelganger of Henny Youngman was visiting the pagans and trying to convert them to Christianity (Take my religion …. please!!)

Upon successfully converting some pagans,the Youngman doppelganger would take out a stringed instrument, play a few bars, and wave the bright red inner sleeves of his travelling gown. Time for a quick exit —

@18 Of course, the “Render unto Caesar” bit is used by the religious right to justify absolute acquiescence to authority and respect for the power of the President–when said President is “one of their own”. Put a Democrat in the Oval Office, and all of a sudden they’re all about exercising their “constitutional right” to tell Uncle Sam to go blow himself.

27

Liberal Scientist thinks that concentrated power and wealth should be met with suspicion, not adorationspews:

I just saw this on DailyKos. Oh. My. God. Not only is the fratricidal food fight that is the Republican Primary no end of humor, but now Santorum has an ad that appears to arm Romney (or a Romney doppelganger) with a Santorum gun!!!

OMG is right. Of all the things they could do, this Santorum Gun takes the cake! Dumbest ad in history (how soon we forget Herman Cain and Rick Perry.) I just saw part of the ad on a news segment on MSNBC. Here’s the ad on HuffPo. http://huff.to/yhrlBR

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